Recipes

It’s cold, overcast and I’m hungry. Plus I have another child home from school with a cold. I hear my mom’s voice in my head. She says “Make chicken soup. The broth is good for them.” Mom’s Jedi powers are strong. I defrost some chicken, chop up some veggies and we’re good to go. Chicken soup is simmering on the stovetop, and Heather just said “It smells soooo good.” Thanks, Mom. Here’s the recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1.5 pounds chicken meat (breast and/or thigh), chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium rutabaga, chopped

3 parsnips, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, diced

8 ounces brown and white mushroom, chopped

10 cups chicken broth

1 tsp parsley, sage and thyme

1 whole bay leaf

1/2 cup pearl barley

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Add olive oil to a large soup pot. Set heat to medium-high, then add chopped chicken meat. Stir frequently to make sure chicken is thoroughly cooked and does not burn. Once chicken is no loner pink (about 10 minutes), add onions, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, parsley, sage, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook for approximately 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Once onions begin to sweat, add the rutabaga and parsnips. Then add the chicken broth and bay leaf and bring to boil. Once boiling, set heat to low, add barley, stir and cover. Let cook for 30 minutes. Ready to eat!

Another fantastic one pot meal!

Looking for a warm, filling and delicious recipe on a cold winter’s night? Then check out this Mung Bean Soup Recipe (adapted from PinchofYum.com).

Ingredients

2 cups dry mung beans, monggo beans or green lentils

8 cups vegetable broth

1 tablespoon peanut oil

1 onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1 cup coconut milk 

1 cup chopped spinach

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the rinsed mung beans and cook, uncovered, for about 40 minutes. * You can also add the broth and beans to the pot at the same time and then bring to a boil. Since this was the first time preparing the dish, I wasn’t sure what consistency to aim for. I have prepared both lentil soup and split pea soup before. With lentil soup, the beans are still intact (just soft), and with split peas, they often dissolve and it turns into more of a porridge.  
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion, garlic, and ginger in the oil until soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add to the mung pot and allow the mixture to simmer together for a few minutes.
3. Stir in the coconut milk and chopped spinach. Serve over rice or plain.

Apparently this was so good that my oldest son asked to bring some for his school lunch today!

Root vegetables like parsnips, rutabagas and beets are often overlooked. Instead, we go for carrots, onions and sweet potatoes.  Why? Familiarity and taste. Depending on where you do your grocery shopping, you might need to rummage around the produce section to find certain root vegetables. Also, many root vegetables have an earthy flavor and may not be as sweet as carrots or sweet potatoes. But if you’re trying to manage your weight, eating earthy root vegetables is a good thing. They won’t leave a sweet and sugary taste in your mouth, which makes you want to eat more high carbohydrate foods. This Bison and Root Vegetable Crock Pot Recipe is high in protein and antioxidants, low in fat and full of flavor. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 pounds bison stew meat, cubed

5 parsnips, chopped

5 golden beets, chopped

3 red potatoes, chopped

3 yellow potatoes, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

10 white and brown mushroom, chopped or left whole

1 14-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes, crushed

1 tablespoon parsley

1 tablespoon ground rosemary

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Chop all vegetables and place in crock pot. Add cubed stew meat and cover with crushed tomatoes, herbs and spices. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Vegetables in the crock pot.

Bison stew meat from Catnip Hollow Bison in Mount Horeb. Thanks, Mark Koeppl. 

Everybody in the pool and covered with herbs and spices.

Served and ready to eat.

What did you do with your leftover turkey from Thanksgiving? Have a second helping? Freeze it? Or did you say “what leftovers”? This Thanksgiving I already had two leftover turkey dishes in mind: Turkey Salad Sandwiches and Turkey Rice & Vegetable Soup. Both turned out awesome! Why? As in the last few years, I prepared the turkey in a crockpot. A crockpot? Yes. The turkey is easy to prepare, requires no basting, easy to clean up and most of all the meat was moist and delicious. No dry white meat. And in case you are wondering, our crockpot is 8 quarts and snugly fit an 11-pound turkey. That was plenty for our family. Second, the broth/stock that came out of the crockpot was incredible. Better than anything from a can and not as salty. All this talk about food is making me hungry. So here are the two recipes to check out. Enjoy!

Ingredients
8 ounces turkey breast, shredded and chopped
1/2 cup organic raisins
1 organic Gala apple, diced
1 stalk organic celery, diced
1 cup walnuts, crushed
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions
In a large bowl, add the turkey, raisins, diced apple, lemon juice and celery. Mix well.

Spread the shelled walnuts evenly on a cutting board. Using a glass, metal or ceramic bowl, crush the walnuts. Be sure to press the bowl down at a slight angle away from you. Why do I crush the walnuts? To make them into smaller bite sizes and to extract a little oil. This will add to the creaminess of the turkey salad.

Next add the walnuts, mayonnaise and yogurt. Mix thoroughly. Why did I add both mayonnaise and yogurt? I ran out of mayonnaise. Plus I feel that yogurt gives it a fresher and brighter taste.

Your turkey salad is ready to enjoy.

Ingredients
16 ounces turkey meat (shredded and chopped)
1 cup rice, dry
3 organic carrots, peeled and chopped
3 stalks organic celery, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
5 cups homemade turkey stock
7 cups water
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon dill weed
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Place a large pot on the stove top and set heat to medium-high. Add olive oil, onions and garlic. Saute for about 1 minute.

Next add the celery and carrots. Cook for about 5 five minutes, mixing frequently.

Add turkey, spices, stock and water. FYI my stock was super concentrated, very gelatinous and flavorful. So depending on your palette you may want to add more or less water at this point. This will also affect the consistency of the soup.

Bring to boil. Once boiling, add rice, lower heat to simmer and cover with lid. I let it simmer for about 90 minutes. The rice broke down more than I wanted to, but all in all I thought it was a success.

Can you say delicious? This was a spur of the moment creation. I referred to the recipe on the back of the noodle package and also borrowed ideas from a few soba noodle recipes online. As always, I modified the recipe to suit my family’s tastes as well as what ingredients we had in our kitchen. Made for a light and tasty side dish. Enjoy!

Ingredients for dressing

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon peanut oil

Ingredients for vegetables and noodles

1 teaspoon peanut oil
1/4 cup red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup mix of yellow and orange carrots, diced
1/4 cup snow peas
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
12 ounces buckwheat noodles

Directions

Heat 4-5 quarts of water in large pot. Once boiling, add noodles and cook according to package directions. I like my noodles to have a little more chew to them, so I cooked them al dente. Noodles were then drained in a strainer and rinsed under cold water.

Heat peanut oil in a saute pan on medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add the chopped red bell peppers and yellow and orange diced carrots. Stir frequently for 1-2 minutes. Then add snow peas. Continue to stir and cook for approximately one more minute. Remove skillet from heat and plate vegetables to stop cooking process.

In a small bowl mix together the vinegar, ginger powder, honey and sesame oil until combined. Slowly whisk in the peanut oil until the dressing is emulsified.

In a large bowl add the noodles, carrots, peppers and snow peas. Pour sauce over noodles and vegetables and gently mix to combine. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds. Ready to serve and eat.

Making food fun, eye-catching and appealing isn’t always about the recipe but about the presentation and the platter on which the food is served. Recently Heather bought a chicken-shaped platter with indentations around the edges and a depression in the middle. With a tiny chip on it, the price was reduced by 80%. A good find. The indentations were intended for deviled eggs (or at least we hoped so), but we weren’t quite sure what food would go in the middle. Crackers, a dip, veggies? Ah, yes! Vegetables. Heather had just gone shopping at Willy Street Co-op and picked up some organic Brussel sprouts. They look like little cabbages and have somewhat of a similar taste. So that’d what she prepared. Deviled eggs and Brussel sprouts. Very simple, healthy and delicious!

So the next time you’re entertaining guests or are invited to a party or just want to make a family dinner more fun, serve up some whimsy with a clever platter or tray.

Ingredients for Deviled Eggs
6 hardboiled eggs
1/4 cup total of Greek yogurt and mayonnaise mixed
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp yellow mustard
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle with paprika to garnish

Directions
Cut hardboiled eggs lengthwise. With a spoon, gently scoop out yolks and place in bowl. Mix well with yogurt, mayonnaise, vinegar and mustard. Then refill egg whites with mixture.

Helpful tip: Do not set your filled eggs on serving platter until after you sprinkle them with paprika. Less messy.

For the Brussel Sprouts, we simply boiled them in salted water until tender. We let the flavor speak for itself.